Movie Reviews

Mupparimanam: A Puerile Love Story with Overwhelming Melodrama

Movie Review by Anirudh Madhav (Rocheston Certified Movie Critic)

The level of moral responsibility that filmmakers carry cannot be stressed enough. While their films don’t necessarily have to be instruments that detail society’s evils, highlighting and glorifying misogyny is exceedingly harmful and alarming. Even with a vaguely promising plot, this is what lets director Athiroopan down. He portrays a puerile love track splashed with its share of undeniable misogyny and the alarming glorification of characters whose violence trumps sincerity.

Director Athiroopan’s Mupparimanam begins as a rescue missionwhen a determined Kathir sets off to rescue his damsel in distress from a wedding she’s been forced into. A few minutes in, Kathir successfully kidnaps his love interest, and what ensues is a road chase. Just when the film seems as if it is a moment away from becoming a clichéd narrative, it metamorphoses into an average plot that revolves around the three stages of the lives of Kathir and Anusha (Shrushti Dange). This is where the film gets its name Mupparinamam(Three Dimensions).

Even though a non-linear narrative is employed, Athiroopan succumbs to several clichés. While the method he employs for his story-telling is great, the story he chooses to tell is rife with lectures from characters that are in the wrong, forced comedy tracks and a rosy picture that contains dreadful and amateur layers beneath it.

Shanthanu deserves a special mention for his meticulous effortto transform from the boy-next-door to an enraged lover hell-bent on taking revenge. Appukutty and Lollu Sabha Swaminathan seem misplaced as Kathir’s friends, while Thambi Ramiah is unappealing as a houseboat owner in Allepey. Ravi Prakash is impressively portrayed as a fearsome leader in a village, and he is also convicted for honor killing. Srusthi Dange delivers yet another run-of-the-mill performance in a character that is largely forgettable.

Music director G.V Prakash does little justice to the film, with his “Let’s Go Party” number made bearable only by the guest appearances of several celebrities. An emotional climax with a depressing song only adds to the boredom and melodrama of the film.

While this is a far-fetched comparison, Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill is also a film based on a revenge-seeking central character. The reason Kill Bill worked and Mupparimanam doesn’t is because Kill Bill chose to tell a story of characters for whom the line between right and wrong is blurred; the characters have shades of grey too, but they aren’t glorified. Even with a gripping plot, Athiroopan fails because of his glorification of such seemingly sincere characters.

On the whole, Mupparimanam is a promising plot that succumbs to wrongful glorification, stale humor, and overwhelming melodrama.